- US officials are preparing for possible ‘provocative’ actions by North Korea
- It comes as Kim Jung-Un prepares to possibly host Vladimir Putin
- North Korea quenched Moscow’s thirst for ammunition during the war in Ukraine
US officials are preparing for North Korea to take increasingly “provocative” actions ahead of November’s elections, as Pyongyang strengthens longstanding ties with Moscow.
“We have no doubt that North Korea will be provocative this year. It’s just a matter of how escalating it is,” a US intelligence official told me NBC News.
It comes ahead of a likely meeting between North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was re-elected this year with 87 percent of the vote after more than two decades in power.
Some escalating actions, whatever they may be, are expected to come close to the U.S. elections, according to intelligence officials.
Biden administration officials are raising concerns about the alliance, which comes amid an embrace between U.S. rivals Russia and China in the run-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The warning is reminiscent of 2016, when US officials accused Russia of election meddling. Special counsel Robert Mueller has charged 34 people, including members of a Russian troll farm with ties to the Kremlin, following his two-year investigation.
US intelligence services fear that North Korea is planning increasingly provocative actions in the weeks before the US elections in November
US officials expect the volatile Kim to strike a deal for more military transfers from Russia, the report said.
The White House said in January that Russia used North Korean-made short-range missiles to attack Ukraine, in just the latest example of their cooperation.
One of the concerns of U.S. intelligence officials is that Putin’s Russia is gifting North Korea with nuclear subtechnology while supporting its decades-long effort to refine ballistic missile technology.
In return, Pyongyang has supplied Russia with weapons to support the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Another concern is that Russia could help North Korea make progress in its efforts to build a submarine that could launch nuclear-armed missiles — a threat that would allow the country to expand its threat to the U.S. allies Japan and others throughout the region.
The concerns come as the White House has repeatedly pressured China not to support the Russian invasion with its own weapons stockpile.
The US has been trying to contain North Korea’s missile technology for decades. This photo, taken on April 19, 2024 and released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 20, 2024, shows the North Korean Missile Administration conducting a test launch of “Pyoljji-1-2” new anti-aircraft missiles in the West Sea of Korea
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to visit Pyongyang soon
President Joe Biden has based his reelection in part on protecting democracies and combating Russian aggression
“We recently expressed in quite urgent terms our concerns about what China is doing to fuel the Russian war machine – not directly giving them weapons, but providing inputs into Russia’s defense industrial base,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said . reporters at the White House this week.
‘It happens. That is something we are concerned about,” he said.
Any volatile action by North Korea could amplify Donald Trump’s relentless attacks on President Biden’s foreign policy, which Trump has called a disaster.
Trump himself has bragged about how he eventually exchanged “love letters” with Kim after warning early in his presidency that North Korea would face “fire and fury” if the country made further threats against the country. USA